Taking your phone with you when riding your motorcycle can have its benefits but it can also be distracting. It can be the reason you don’t interact with other people on a ride or it may be the reason you didn’t get lost and discover something you never knew existed. On the contrary, your phone could be your only way of letting someone know you need medical assistance.
Overview
In this short article, we discuss the pros and cons of taking along your phone when riding a motorcycle.
We will discuss the following:
- The pros of taking along your phone
- The cons of taking along your phone
- Conclusion
The pros of taking along your phone
When you have your phone with you on a ride, you can easily notify someone when you need emergency medical assistance. But as phones have been getting new features over the last decade, you are able to do more than just make a phone call.
Most smartphones, if not all of them, have GPS capability which makes it easy for you to navigate. Even if you don’t have a phone mount, you can always stop next to the road to see where you are and where you need to be.
But something that I found very useful is the gyroscope functionality in my smartphone. This feature is used in the EatSleepRIDE (ESR) app that will notify and send a location to three different people that you were in an accident when you record your ride. You can also see where you were riding throughout the session on a map.
The camera on your smartphone is probably what you use the most and it’s really great for those awesome Instagram pictures. People love taking pictures and people love seeing your moto-pics on social media.
My favourite thing about taking along a phone on a ride is that I can connect my BlueTooth headset not just for phone calls but especially music. I always drop one of my playlists on my Deezer app when I’m riding in the city.
This is one of my favourite tracks I like to listen when riding:
The cons of taking along your phone
You might get distracted while trying to navigate with the GPS function or when talking over the BlueTooth headset. But generally speaking, motorcyclists don’t like it when drivers get distracted with their phones so they would make a point of not doing this themselves. Still, a phone can be distracting for a motorcyclist on the road.
The other major thing is that it disconnects you from the other riders in the group when you stop somewhere. It’s nice to take a few photos along the way, but do you need to share it on social media at that moment? You are missing out on life. And the guy or gal that didn’t bring their phone is awkwardly staring at off somewhere as if they are the fifth wheel on a double date.
Conclusion
The pros outweigh the cons by far but that doesn’t mean we have to ignore the cons. It’s fine to take your phone along and use it for whatever reason you may need it but you should not let yourself get distracted by it on the road and also not let it come in the way of your friendships.
If you need to concentrate too much on the map for navigation, pull off and figure it out before going further. And obviously you will need to pull off for a phone call if your helmet isn’t connected to your phone. Also, consider sharing your photos when you get home and have some time only to yourself.
Final words
I think it’s good to take your phone along wherever you go. If you use it responsibly, I don’t see why you should leave it behind. I hope this article answers your question and was helpful to you in some way.
Featured image by derfreeze on Instagram.
I always try to keep my articles interesting and informative. And I’m always thankful when they are shared on social media platforms or Pinterest.
